These findings – simultaneously presented at the ESMO 2016 Congress, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, and published in The New England Journal of Medicine – follow on from the primary analysis, which showed significantly longer recurrence-free survival with ipilimumab than placebo, said the presenting author.

In the EORTC 18071 trial, 475 stage III melanoma patients with a high recurrence risk were randomly allocated to receive adjuvant ipilimumab 10 mg/kg every 3 weeks for four doses, after which the drug was given every 12 weeks for a maximum of 3 years. Their 476 counterparts received placebo according to the same schedule.